National Republicans are not taking any chances in the upcoming special election in Arizona, pumping hundreds of thousands into a dead-red district in the dead-red state, Politico reports.
Still stinging from the special election defeat in southwest Pennsylvania earlier this month, the GOP is spending nearly $500,000 in support of Debbie Lesko, the Republican candidate seeking the vacant seat left by the disgraced Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who was forced to resign over a sexual misconduct scandal.
"This is a red seat, so they shouldn't normally have to spend anything on this race, but Republicans are on defense," Arizona Republican pollster Mike Noble told Politico, noting Conor Lamb's stunning victory in Pennsylvania. "You get in trouble when you're asleep at the wheel."
President Donald Trump won Arizona's 8th district by more than 20 points and the state by 4 points. Every major election analyst has this race listed as "safe Republican."
Further, Lesko, a former state senator, is up against a political neophyte in Hiral Tipirneni, a physician who has raised just $300,000 for her run.
But Republicans are not counting their chickens, not this time.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is spending $170,000 on ad buys and the Republican National Committee another $280,000 on a ground game in support of Lesko, Politico reports.
And Tipirneni is on the wrong side of President Donald Trump's border wall.
"The way that she has articulated her immigration policies hasn't been moderate because she's strongly against the border wall, and that's what people want here," Republican consultant Brian Anderson told Politico.
The special election is April 24.
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